HBO Sports Wins 8 Emmy Awards - Clips Now Available for Licensing

1 April 2005

Last month, HBO Sports was the recipient of eight Emmy Awards, more than any other network. Honors went to two documentaries: “Curse of the Bambino” and “Jim McKay; My World In My Words” as well as the boxing anthology series, “Legendary Nights”. “RealSports with Byrant Gumbel, the nine year old journalism magazine show, took home it’s 12th & 13th Sports Emmys and commentators, Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth were also winners.

Footage from these award-winning productions are immediately available for licensing. The announcement was made by Rick Bernstein, Senior Vice-President, HBO Sports.

The strength of HBO SPORTS ARCHIVES is helping producers’ make a bigger impact. “Beyond the Glory”, Fox Sports’ documentary series, has been a steady client. Six minutes of exclusive Mike Tyson material was used in their Emmy nominated special on the former heavyweight champ. More recently, HBO Sports Archives has been able to license compelling images on such athletes as Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, Mark Cuban, Pete Sampras and George Foreman for Fox Sports.

"HBO has a fantastic sports library with a very knowledgeable staff, and they never fail to meet our tight deadlines." - Shelley Storm, Senior Associate Producer, "Beyond the Glory"

Laura Sharp, Warner Bros Television Production Inc., has found HBO an untapped resource for quality sports footage. “From the most current sporting events to historical moments, the playback we received has been superior quality. From prompt overnight shipments to satellite feeds, in a clutch situation, we know we can count on the HBO Archive team. Her studio is using segments for playback in “The OC,” “Nip/Tuck” and through their pilot season.

Spike TV, a new comer to sports TV production, has also found value in HBO Sports Archives. Their most recent episode, “Ten Things Every Guy Should Experience,” focused on winning ringside seats at a heavyweight title match. The project involved cooperation both in terms of extraordinary ‘live’ access as well as licensing library clips.

"HBO Archives sent over terrific Klitchko and Sanders fight footage. The footage came quick, it was high quality images and it looks fantastic in our show." – Ivana Schechter-Garcia, Director News & Documentaries, Spike TV.

Now in its second year, HBO Sports Archives next initiative concentrates on digging deeper into the early history of the network. Some of the diversified events covered by the network in the 1970’s included college basketball, track and field, skiing, gymnastics, figure skating, rodeo, tennis, water sports, soccer. bowling and unusual shows like “Man vs Shark.”

Just back from production, HBO producers shot in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Cuba and Haiti. The non-sports collection hold thousands of hours, including establishing shots, landmarks, lifestyles, nature, pop culture – combined with newsreel footage spanning from the turn of the century to the 1960’s.

Bernstein adds: “Sports is producing more of our programs with both film and high-definition elements; anywhere from coverage of a wide range of Churchill Downs images to bull-riding. We plan to make these images available, and eventually all HBO materials from all divisions, to outside productions.”